1924
- 1948: South African Foreign Relations
South Africa’s Racial Policy and the UNO
| GRADE LEVEL | THEME | TOPIC | DURATION |
| 12 | SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY | 1924 -1948: SOUTH AFRICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS | x LESSONS |
1924
- 1948: South African Foreign Relations |
After the Second World War, the Western world shifted away from ideas of racial superiority and racially discriminative policies. The horrors that the Jews in Europe had to go through under the Nazi’s because of their race and culture had shocked the world, and the newly formed United Nations Organisation (UNO or UN) would do what it could to prevent such genocide from happening again. In this changing political climate of anti-racism, South Africa did nothing to abolish its own racist policy of segregation. In fact, in 1948 it became more deeply entrenched with the introduction of apartheid. At first the Western world and the UN did not criticise South Africa much. Although racism was more and more frowned upon in the first years after the World War, the major European colonial powers – Britain, France and Portugal – had not given up their African colonies yet. They would not do so for quite a few years to come, and in some cases only after bloody and bitter warfare. There were also other matters that occupied the UN’s agenda. The end of the World War saw the rise of the Cold War and as South Africa was not a potential communist ally, but rather very anti-communist itself, the Western countries did not see South Africa as a threat to world peace. Not everybody was so tolerant of South Africa’s racial policies. In 1946 it was raised at the first UN meeting. The matter under discussion was the treatment of people of Indian origin in South Africa, and it was brought to the UN’s attention by the government of India. After long consideration, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in December 1946, stating that the matter harmed good relations between South Africa and India and that this could deteriorate if a proper settlement was not found. The two nations were called upon to find a way of doing this, and to report back to the General Assembly at its next meeting. Their reports at the second meeting led to another resolution, in which the first resolution was reaffirmed and the two nations were requested to enter into Round Table discussions. The results of these discussions would then be given to the UN and considered at the next UN meeting. But not all of the UN members agreed with the resolution, and because it could not get the required two-thirds majority, it was never formally adopted.
Mahatma Gandhi. From the 1910s there had been protests against In July 1948 the Indian representative to the UN, PP Pillai, wrote a letter to the UN’s Secretary-General in which he said that the UN had not done anything effective about the South African Indians’ plight and that discriminatory legislation was still in place in South Africa. According to Pillai, the UN’s failure to adopt an effective resolution showed a ‘tacit approval’ of apartheid, which was introduced by the Reunited National Party after they won the elections in May 1948. He asked the UN to take the matter into consideration once again in an effort to save the deteriorating relations between South Africa and India and to put pressure on South Africa to comply with the UN Charter and to obey the first resolution, adopted in December 1946. In closing, Pillai argued that: If the belief that there is to be one standard of treatment for the white races and another for the non-white continues to gain strength among the latter, the future for solidarity among the Members of the United Nations, and consequently, for world peace, will indeed be dark. If the UN did not react to South Africa’s racial policies, the future of the organisation and world peace would be seriously compromised. In the following years, the Indian government kept on calling upon the UN to do something about the matter. But the UN still did not officially condemn South Africa’s racial policies. Although it was discussed and observed, it was only after the 1960 Sharpeville massacre that apartheid really became a significant factor on the UN’s agenda. (To read about the UN and apartheid, go to the Grade 12 lesson on South Africa’s Foreign Relations, 1948-1976: The UNO and its actions against South Africa. For Pillai’s whole letter to the UN Secretary-General, click here. Click below for:
Write an essay of about 2 pages on the following topic: The UN’s failure to adopt an effective resolution showed a ‘tacit approval’ of apartheid. Do you agree? Discuss your view by explaining what the Indian dispute was all about and what measures the UN adopted to solve the problem. Were they effective? Why/why not? Remember to structure your essay well. There has to be an introduction, stating the question which you will answer in the essay; a body in which you give your argument; and a conclusion that brings your argument together in a single answer – whether you agree with the statement or not. Your answer does not necessarily have to be right or wrong – you are giving your own opinion, and if you can prove your point convincingly, it can be right!
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